1/2 Penny Imitation - Ships, Colonies and Commerce

The "Ships, Colonies and Commerce" tokens flooded Lower Canada during the 1830s when chronic small-change shortages left merchants and workers with almost nothing under a shilling to conduct daily trade. They were struck in Birmingham by multiple private diesinkers — none of them authorized by any colonial government — and imported in bulk by merchants who profited from issuing them at face value against a metal cost far below that. The BL-26 variety is among the more common survivors of a sprawling token family that Breton catalogued with considerable difficulty, given how many dies were cut by different hands for the same basic purpose.